Decline and fall:a biological, developmental, and psycholinguistic account of deliberative language processes and ageing

Background: This paper reviews the role of deliberative processes in language: those language processes that require central resources, in contrast to the automatic processes of lexicalisation, word retrieval, and parsing. 10 Aims: We describe types of deliberative processing, and show how these processes underpin high-level processes that feature strongly in language. We focus on metalin- guistic processing, strategic processing, inhibition, and planning. We relate them to frontal-lobe function and the development of the fronto-striate loop. We then focus on the role of deliberative processes in normal and pathological development and ageing, 15 and show how these processes are particularly susceptible to deterioration with age. In particular, many of the commonly observed language impairments encountered in ageing result from a decline in deliberative processing skills rather than in automatic language processes. Main Contribution: We argue that central processing plays a larger and more important 20 role in language processing and acquisition than is often credited. Conclusions: Deliberative language processes permeate language use across the lifespan. They are particularly prone to age-related loss. We conclude by discussing implications for therapy

Ageing makes us dyslexic

Background: The effects of typical ageing on spoken language are well known: word production is disproportionately affected while syntactic processing is relatively well preserved. Little is known, however, about how ageing affects reading.Aims: What effect does ageing have on written language processing? In particular, how does it affect our ability to read words? How does it affect phonological awareness (our ability to manipulate the sounds of our language)?Methods & Procedures: We tested 14 people with Parkinson's disease (PD), 14 typically ageing adults (TAA), and 14 healthy younger adults on a range of background neuropsychological tests and tests of phonological awareness. We then carried out an oral naming experiment where we manipulated consistency, and a nonword repetition task where we manipulated the word-likeness of the nonwords.Outcomes & Results: We find that normal ageing causes individuals to become mildly phonologically dyslexic in that people have difficulty pronouncing nonwords. People with Parkinson's disease perform particularly poorly on language tasks involving oral naming and metalinguistic processing. We also find that ageing causes difficulty in repeating nonwords. We show that these problems are associated with a more general difficulty in processing phonological information, supporting the idea that language difficulties, including poorer reading in older age, can result from a general phonological deficit.Conclusions: We suggest that neurally this age-induced dyslexia is associated with frontal deterioration (and perhaps deterioration in other regions) and cognitively to the loss of executive processes that enable us to manipulate spoken and written language. We discuss implications for therapy and treatment

Testing Feedback-Modified Dark Matter Haloes with Galaxy Rotation Curves: Estimation of Halo Parameters and Consistency with Λ\LambdaCDM

Cosmological $N$-body simulations predict dark matter (DM) haloes with steep central cusps (e.g. NFW, Navarro et al. 1996). This contradicts observations of gas kinematics in low-mass galaxies that imply the existence of shallow DM cores. Baryonic processes such as adiabatic contraction and gas outflows can, in principle, alter the initial DM density profile, yet their relative contributions to the halo transformation remain uncertain. Recent high resolution, cosmological hydrodynamic simulations (Di Cintio et al. 2014, DC14) predict that inner density profiles depend systematically on the ratio of stellar to DM mass (M$_*$/M$_{\text{halo}}$). Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo approach, we test the NFW and the M$_*$/M$_{\text{halo}}$-dependent DC14 halo models against a sample of 147 galaxy rotation curves from the new {\it Spitzer} Photometry and Accurate Rotation Curves (SPARC) data set. These galaxies all have extended H{\small I} rotation curves from radio interferometry as well as accurate stellar mass density profiles from near-infrared photometry. The DC14 halo profile provides markedly better fits to the data compared to the NFW profile. Unlike NFW, the DC14 halo parameters found in our rotation curve fits naturally fall within two standard deviations of the mass-concentration relation predicted by $\Lambda$CDM and the stellar mass-halo mass relation inferred from abundance matching with few outliers. Halo profiles modified by baryonic processes are therefore more consistent with expectations from $\Lambda$ cold dark matter ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology and provide better fits to galaxy rotation curves across a wide range of galaxy properties than do halo models that neglect baryonic physics. Our results offer a solution to the decade long cusp-core discrepancy.Comment: 23 Pages, 18 Figures, MNRAS Accepte

Will buffer zones around schools in agricultural areas be adequate to protect children from the potential adverse effects of pesticide exposure?

California has proposed limiting agricultural pesticide use within 0.4 km of schools and childcare facilities. However, the 0.4-km buffer may not be appropriate for all pesticides because of differing toxicities, fate, and application methods. Living near pesticide use has been associated with poorer birth outcomes, neurodevelopment, and respiratory function in children. More research about exposures in schools, childcare facilities, and homes is needed. Despite incomplete science, this regulation is an important step to reduce potential exposures to children. The most vulnerable exposure period may be in utero, and future regulations should also aim to reduce exposures to pregnant women

Maternal urinary bisphenol a during pregnancy and maternal and neonatal thyroid function in the CHAMACOS study.

BackgroundBisphenol A (BPA) is widely used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastic bottles, food and beverage can linings, thermal receipts, and dental sealants. Animal and human studies suggest that BPA may disrupt thyroid function. Although thyroid hormones play a determinant role in human growth and brain development, no studies have investigated relations between BPA exposure and thyroid function in pregnant women or neonates.ObjectiveOur goal was to evaluate whether exposure to BPA during pregnancy is related to thyroid hormone levels in pregnant women and neonates.MethodsWe measured BPA concentration in urine samples collected during the first and second half of pregnancy in 476 women participating in the CHAMACOS (Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas) study. We also measured free thyroxine (T4), total T4, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in women during pregnancy, and TSH in neonates.ResultsAssociations between the average of the two BPA measurements and maternal thyroid hormone levels were not statistically significant. Of the two BPA measurements, only the one taken closest in time to the TH measurement was significantly associated with a reduction in total T4 (β = -0.13 µg/dL per log2 unit; 95% CI: -0.25, 0.00). The average of the maternal BPA concentrations was associated with reduced TSH in boys (-9.9% per log2 unit; 95% CI: -15.9%, -3.5%) but not in girls. Among boys, the relation was stronger when BPA was measured in the third trimester of pregnancy and decreased with time between BPA and TH measurements.ConclusionResults suggest that exposure to BPA during pregnancy is related to reduced total T4 in pregnant women and decreased TSH in male neonates. Findings may have implications for fetal and neonatal development

High angular resolution mm- and submm-observations of dense molecular gas in M82

Researchers observed CO(7-6), CO(3-2), HCN(3-2) and HCO+(3-2) line emission toward the starburst nucleus of M82 and have obtained an upper limit to H13CN(3-2). These are the first observations of the CO(7-6), HCN(3-2) and HCO+(3-2) lines in any extragalactic source. Researchers took the CO(7-6) spectrum in January 1988 at the Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) with the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics/Univ. of California, Berkeley 800 GHz Heterodyne Receiver. In March 1989 researchers used the Institute for Radio Astronomy in the Millimeter range (IRAM) 30 m telescope to observe the CO(3-2) line with the new MPE 350 GHz Superconductor Insulator Superconductor (SIS) receiver and the HCN(3-2) and HCO+(3-2) lines with the (IRAM) 230 GHz SIS receiver (beam 12" FWHM, Blundell et al. 1988). The observational parameters are summarized