The acquisition of phonology and the classification of speech disorders in German-speaking children

PhD ThesisPhonological acquisition has been a major research topic for the past three decades. Several different theoretical concepts, accounting for the course of phonological acquisition, have emerged. While all these theories agree the need to explain language-specific differences during the course of development, they all also strongly argue for a universal pattern. This thesis aims to provide evidence for phonological theory in a cross-linguistic context by examining monolingual children acquiring German as their native language. A cross-sectional study of 177 normally developing children aged 1;6 to 5; 11 was found to generally support the concept of universality but also showed significant acquisition differences especially in comparison with English, a closely related language. It will be argued that to date only the concept of phonological saliency (So & Dodd, 1994; Zua Hua & Dodd, 2000) is able to fully explain language-specific findings. However, evidence for phonological theory cannot only be validated by using data from developmental cross-linguistic studies but also from data describing phonologically disordered children. The nature of the errors made and also the children's developmental history might provide information concerning the prerequisites for normal speech development and the cognitive processes involved in speech perception and production. ... This thesis will argue that developmental speech disorders of unknown origin follow a language-independent course that is constrained by a universal pattern. On the basis of normative data for any language investigated, it should be possible to detect universal subgroups of speech disorders across languages. The clinical implication of this conclusion is that therapy techniques can be applied cross-linguistically.Economic and Social Research Council

Diagnostic validity, accuracy and inter-rater reliability of a phonological assessment for Danish-speaking children

Purpose: The identification and differential diagnosis of children with speech sound disorders (SSD) is an important task of paediatric speech and language pathologists (SLPs). A correct identification requires valid and reliable assessment tools. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic validity and inter-rater reliability of the phonology test LogoFova which was developed for Danish-speaking children. Method: Investigation was carried out on two Danish-speaking populations: 61 suggested typically developing (TD) children and 61 children with suspected speech sound disorder aged 2-6 years. All children were assessed with the single-word picture-naming test LogoFoVa. In order to determine diagnostic validity, it was investigated whether the test differentiated TD children from children with SSD as well as subgroups of SSD via a phonetic and phonological pattern analysis. To determine inter-rater reliability, transcriptions, pattern analyses and differential diagnoses were compared across raters.Results: Overall, diagnostic validity of LogoFoVa was good as differentiation between TD children and children with suspected SSD as well as among subgroups of SSD, i.e. articulation impairment, phonological delay and consistent phonological disorder was possible. Inter-rater reliability was found to be very good for transcription, moderate for identification of phonological processes and substantial for differential diagnosis. However, agreement rates depended on the cut-off criterion chosen for the definition of a phonological pattern. A new cut-off level was proposed. Conclusion: LogoFoVa was found to be a reliable and valid clinical tool for the identification and classification of children with SSD in Danish SLP practice. Future research should investigate the suggested new cut-off criterion and its influence on validity and reliability of phonological assessments.Purpose: The identification and differential diagnosis of children with speech sound disorders (SSD) is an important task of paediatric speech-language pathologists (SLPs). A correct identification requires valid and reliable assessment tools. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic validity and accuracy as well as inter-rater reliability of the phonology test of LogoFova which was developed for Danish-speaking children. Method: Investigation was carried out on two Danish-speaking populations: 61 suspected typically developing (TD) children and 61 children with suspected speech sound disorder aged 2–6 years. All children were assessed with the single-word picture-naming test of LogoFoVa. In order to determine diagnostic validity, it was investigated whether the test differentiated TD children from children with SSD as well as subgroups of SSD via a phonetic and phonological pattern analysis. Two different cut-off criteria were applied for the definition of patterns. Sensitivity and specificity as well as likelihood ratios were additionally calculated. To determine inter-rater reliability, transcriptions, pattern analyses and subgrouping were compared across raters. Results: Overall, diagnostic validity of the picture-naming test of LogoFoVa was good as differentiation between TD children and children with suspected SSD as well as amongst subgroups of SSD (articulation impairment, phonological delay and atypical speech development) was possible. However, accuracy of differentiation between TD children and children with SSD was affected by the cut-off criterion applied. Inter-rater reliability was found to be almost perfect for transcription and moderate for identification of phonological processes as well as for subgrouping. Again, agreement rates depended on the cut-off criterion chosen for the definition of a phonological pattern. Conclusion: LogoFoVa was found to be a reliable and valid clinical tool for the identification and subgrouping of children with SSD in Danish SLP practice if a new cut-off criterion was applied.</p

Observation of dose-rate dependence in a Fricke dosimeter irradiated at low dose rates with monoenergetic X-rays

<p>Absolute measurements of the radiolytic yield of Fe3+ in a ferrous sulphate dosimeter formulation (6 mM Fe2+), with a 20 keV x-ray monoenergetic beam, are reported. Dose-rate suppression of the radiolytic yield was observed at dose rates lower than and different in nature to those previously reported with x-rays. We present evidence that this effect is most likely to be due to recombination of free radicals radiolytically produced from water. The method used to make these measurements is also new and it provides radiolytic yields which are directly traceable to the SI standards system. The data presented provides new and exacting tests of radiation chemistry codes.</p

Evaluation of the HEAL™ing mental health program: A prospective cohort study of short-term changes from a physical activity and lifestyle education program for people with mental health disorders living in rural Australia

This study aimed to evaluate short-term outcomes of the HEAL™ing Mental Health program, an 8-week intervention for change in functional, behavioural and physiological health and wellbeing designed for people living with mental health conditions in rural or regional areas of Australia. A prospective cohort study was completed, reporting on 19 items (pre-program) and 15 (post-participation change), organised across seven domains. Participants took part in an Accredited Exercise Physiologist/Nurse led supervised group exercise (60 minutes) and healthy lifestyle education program (60 minutes). Separate linear mixed models with restricted maximum likelihood were used to examine the primary research question considering the effect of the program on: walking (min/week); planned, incidental and total physical activity (min/week); sitting time; active days; fruit and vegetable intake; body mass index; waist circumference; blood pressure; 6 minute walk distance; 30 second sit-to-stand; psychological distress symptoms; and stage of behaviour change. There were 99 participants (31 males, 68 females) out of 117 participants completed more than 50% of program sessions. Twelve of 15 measures achieved their desired target change and a statistically significant change toward the desired outcome was reported for 14 of 15 measures. Positive results were obtained for participants completing more than 50% of sessions, suggesting that HEAL™ ing Mental Health program is effective to increase physical activity and healthy lifestyle choices in individuals who self-report a mental health disorder

Acyclovir therapy reduces the CD4+ T cell response against the immunodominant pp65 protein from cytomegalovirus in immune competent individuals

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infects the majority of the global population and leads to the development of a strong virus-specific immune response. The CMV-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cell immune response can comprise between 10 and 50% of the T cell pool within peripheral blood and there is concern that this may impair immunity to other pathogens. Elderly individuals with the highest magnitude of CMV-specific immune response have been demonstrated to be at increased risk of mortality and there is increasing interest in interventions that may serve to moderate this. Acyclovir is an anti-viral drug with activity against a range of herpes viruses and is used as long term treatment to suppress reactivation of herpes simplex virus. We studied the immune response to CMV in patients who were taking acyclovir to assess if therapy could be used to suppress the CMV-specific immune response. The T cell reactivity against the immunodominant late viral protein pp65 was reduced by 53% in people who were taking acyclovir. This effect was seen within one year of therapy and was observed primarily within the CD4+ response. Acyclovir treatment only modestly influenced the immune response to the IE-1 target protein. These data show that low dose acyclovir treatment has the potential to modulate components of the T cell response to CMV antigen proteins and indicate that anti-viral drugs should be further investigated as a means to reduce the magnitude of CMV-specific immune response and potentially improve overall immune function

The relationship between early neural responses to emotional faces at age 3 and later autism and anxiety symptoms in adolescents with autism

Both autism spectrum (ASD) and anxiety disorders are associated with atypical neural and attentional responses to emotional faces, differing in affective face processing from typically developing peers. Within a longitudinal study of children with ASD (23 male, 3 female), we hypothesized that early ERPs to emotional faces would predict concurrent and later ASD and anxiety symptoms. Greater response amplitude to fearful faces corresponded to greater social communication difficulties at age 3, and less improvement by age 14. Faster ERPs to neutral faces predicted greater ASD symptom improvement over time, lower ASD severity in adolescence, and lower anxiety in adolescence. Early individual differences in processing of emotional stimuli likely reflect a unique predictive contribution from social brain circuitry early in life

Convergent genetic and expression data implicate immunity in Alzheimer's disease

Background Late–onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is heritable with 20 genes showing genome wide association in the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project (IGAP). To identify the biology underlying the disease we extended these genetic data in a pathway analysis. Methods The ALIGATOR and GSEA algorithms were used in the IGAP data to identify associated functional pathways and correlated gene expression networks in human brain. Results ALIGATOR identified an excess of curated biological pathways showing enrichment of association. Enriched areas of biology included the immune response (p = 3.27×10-12 after multiple testing correction for pathways), regulation of endocytosis (p = 1.31×10-11), cholesterol transport (p = 2.96 × 10-9) and proteasome-ubiquitin activity (p = 1.34×10-6). Correlated gene expression analysis identified four significant network modules, all related to the immune response (corrected p 0.002 – 0.05). Conclusions The immune response, regulation of endocytosis, cholesterol transport and protein ubiquitination represent prime targets for AD therapeutics

Gendering the careers of young professionals: some early findings from a longitudinal study. in Organizing/theorizing: developments in organization theory and practice

Wonders whether companies actually have employees best interests at heart across physical, mental and spiritual spheres. Posits that most organizations ignore their workforce – not even, in many cases, describing workers as assets! Describes many studies to back up this claim in theis work based on the 2002 Employment Research Unit Annual Conference, in Cardiff, Wales

Harmonization of Neuroticism and Extraversion phenotypes across inventories and cohorts in the Genetics of Personality Consortium : an application of Item Response Theory

Peer reviewe