What do we know about Foreign Accent Syndrome? – Letter to the Editor

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Javeria Saquib ◽  
Farea Ahmed ◽  
Roha Saeed Memon ◽  
Admin
Keyword(s):  
Speech Disorders ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Foreign Accent Syndrome ◽  
Word Selection ◽  
Slow Speech ◽  
Patient Presentation ◽  
Underlying Pathophysiology ◽  
Normal Speech ◽  
Insight Into

Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is a speech disorder with sudden changes in speech patterns resulting in affected people perceived to have a new non-native accent. Characteristic changes in language concluded in interviews provide some initial insight into the syndrome.1 The control group (without disorders) had normal speech and grammar, patients with language-speech disorders faced difficulty in speaking whereas FAS patients were labelled ‘foreign’ due to frequent hesitation, slow speech, inappropriate grammar and word selection.1 A great deal of time has been dedicated to understanding FAS, however, a varied patient presentation and underlying pathophysiology has led to difficulties in diagnosing the disorder and evaluating its true epidemiology.

MODELING PERCEPTIONS OF THE ACCENTEDNESS AND COMPREHENSIBILITY OF L2 SPEECH The Role of Speaking Rate

2001 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 451-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray J. Munro ◽  
Tracey M. Derwing
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Length ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Speech Compression ◽  
Confounding Effect ◽  
Rating Data ◽  
Slow Speech ◽  
Insight Into

In much previous research, listeners' rating data have served as a dependent variable to demonstrate the effects of age of learning, length of residence, and motivation on L2 users' degree of foreign accent. However, the role of speaking rate in such judgments has not been ascertained. To gain new insight into this relationship, we carried out two experiments involving sentence-length utterances produced by English L2 users. In the first, we observed a significant curvilinear relationship between speaking rates and accentedness and comprehensibility judgments of utterances produced by users from a variety of L1 backgrounds. In the second experiment, by manipulating rates with speech compression-expansion software, we established that this effect was due to the rate differences themselves, rather than to differences in L2 proficiency that might co-vary with rate. In both experiments the listeners tended to assign the highest ratings to L2 speech that was somewhat faster than the rates generally used by L2 users; however, both very fast and very slow speech tended to be less highly rated. Researchers who use listener rating data should be mindful of the potential confounding effect of speaking rate in their data.

Perceptual Speech Outcomes After Early Primary Palatal Repair in Ugandan Patients With Cleft Palate

2020 ◽  
pp. 105566562098024
Author(s):  
Kim Bettens ◽  
Laura Bruneel ◽  
Cassandra Alighieri ◽  
Daniel Sseremba ◽  
Duncan Musasizib ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cleft Palate ◽  
Cleft Lip ◽  
Speech Therapy ◽  
Cleft Lip And Palate ◽  
Control Group ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Early Primary ◽  
Velopharyngeal Function ◽  
Normal Speech

Objective: To provide speech outcomes of English-speaking Ugandan patients with a cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CP±L). Design: Prospective case–control study. Setting: Referral hospital for patients with cleft lip and palate in Uganda. Participants: Twenty-four English-speaking Ugandan children with a CP±L (15 boys, 9 girls, mean 8.4 years) who received palatal closure prior to 6 months of age and an age- and gender-matched control group of Ugandan children without cleft palate. Interventions: Comparison of speech outcomes of the patient and control group. Main Outcome Measures: Perceptual speech outcomes including articulation, resonance, speech understandability and acceptability, and velopharyngeal composite score (VPC-sum). Information regarding speech therapy, fistula rate, and secondary surgery. Results: Normal speech understandability was observed in 42% of the patients, and 38% were judged with normal speech acceptability. Only 16% showed compensatory articulation. Acceptable resonance was found in 71%, and 75% of the patients were judged perceptually to present with competent velopharyngeal function based on the VPC-sum. Additional speech intervention was recommended in 25% of the patients. Statistically significant differences for all these variables were still observed with the control children ( P < .05). Conclusions: Overall, acceptable speech outcomes were found after early primary palatal closure. Comparable or even better results were found in comparison with international benchmarks, especially regarding the presence of compensatory articulation. Whether this approach is transferable to Western countries is the subject for further research.

scholarly journals Gut Microbiome and Metabolome Profiles Associated with High-Fat Diet in Mice

Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 482
Author(s):  
Jae-Kwon Jo ◽  
Seung-Ho Seo ◽  
Seong-Eun Park ◽  
Hyun-Woo Kim ◽  
Eun-Ju Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Relative Abundance ◽  
High Fat Diet ◽  
Amplicon Sequencing ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
High Fat ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Insight Into

Obesity can be caused by microbes producing metabolites; it is thus important to determine the correlation between gut microbes and metabolites. This study aimed to identify gut microbiota-metabolomic signatures that change with a high-fat diet and understand the underlying mechanisms. To investigate the profiles of the gut microbiota and metabolites that changed after a 60% fat diet for 8 weeks, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based metabolomic analyses were performed. Mice belonging to the HFD group showed a significant decrease in the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes but an increase in the relative abundance of Firmicutes compared to the control group. The relative abundance of Firmicutes, such as Lactococcus, Blautia, Lachnoclostridium, Oscillibacter, Ruminiclostridium, Harryflintia, Lactobacillus, Oscillospira, and Erysipelatoclostridium, was significantly higher in the HFD group than in the control group. The increased relative abundance of Firmicutes in the HFD group was positively correlated with fecal ribose, hypoxanthine, fructose, glycolic acid, ornithine, serum inositol, tyrosine, and glycine. Metabolic pathways affected by a high fat diet on serum were involved in aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis, glycine, serine and threonine metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, and phenylalanine, tyrosine, and trypto-phan biosynthesis. This study provides insight into the dysbiosis of gut microbiota and metabolites altered by HFD and may help to understand the mechanisms underlying obesity mediated by gut microbiota.

scholarly journals Identification of Diagnostic and Prognostic microRNAs for Recurrent Vitreous Hemorrhage in Patients with Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parviz Mammadzada ◽  
Juliette Bayle ◽  
Johann Gudmundsson ◽  
Anders Kvanta ◽  
Helder André
Keyword(s):  
Diabetic Retinopathy ◽  
Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy ◽  
Vitreous Hemorrhage ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Ocular Tissues ◽  
Recurrent Hemorrhage ◽  
Pars Plana ◽  
And Control ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Recurrent Vitreous Hemorrhage

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can provide insight into the pathophysiological states of ocular tissues such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). In this study, differences in miRNA expression in vitreous from PDR patients with and without incidence of recurrent vitreous hemorrhage (RVH) after the initial pars-plana vitrectomy (PPV) were analyzed, with the aim of identifying biomarkers for RVH. Fifty-four consented vitreous samples were analyzed from patients undergoing PPV for PDR, of which eighteen samples underwent a second surgery due to RVH. Ten of the sixty-six expressed miRNAs (miRNAs-19a, -20a, -22, -27a, -29a, -93, -126, -128, -130a, and -150) displayed divergences between the PDR vitreous groups and to the control. A significant increase in the miRNA-19a and -27a expression was determined in PDR patients undergoing PPV as compared to the controls. miRNA-20a and -93 were significantly upregulated in primary PPV vitreous samples of patients afflicted with RVH. Moreover, this observed upregulation was not significant between the non-RVH and control group, thus emphasizing the association with RVH incidence. miRNA-19a and -27a were detected as putative vitreous biomarkers for PDR, and elevated levels of miRNA-20a and -93 in vitreous with RVH suggest their biomarker potential for major PDR complications such as recurrent hemorrhage incidence.

scholarly journals Quality of life in siblings of autistic patients

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Regina Ferreira Marciano ◽  
Cláudia Ines Scheuer
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Speech Disorders ◽  
Speech Disorder ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Psychiatric Diseases ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Exclusion Criteria ◽  
School Exclusion

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Quality of Life (QoL) among siblings of autistic patients. METHODS: Casuistic: siblings of autistic patients (n = 31) and, as a control group, siblings of patients with speech disorder (n = 30). Inclusion criteria: age between 7 and 11 years old; absence of current mental disorder; regular attendance to school. Exclusion criteria: antecedents of clinical or psychiatric diseases; disabilities (visual, auditive or motor); antecedents of cognitive and/or intelligence disabilities. Instruments included a questionnaire which evaluated the quality of life in a subjective way. RESULTS: it was observed worse QoL among siblings of autistic patients (p = 0.000). CONCLUSION: The hypothesis that the quality of life was compromised in children (aged 7 to 11) by the presence of an autistic sibling was confirmed, and was worse than that of siblings of children with speech disorders.

scholarly journals Speech disorders in young and preschool children

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
K. V. Yagunova ◽  
D. D. Gaynetdinova
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
Diagnostic Techniques ◽  
Speech Disorders ◽  
Speech Development ◽  
Speech Pathology ◽  
Speech Therapist ◽  
Unified Classification System ◽  
Development Risk ◽  
Normal Speech

With every coming year more and more children suffer from speech problems, making their parents visit various specialists (pediatrician, neurologist, speech therapist, defectologist), who use their diagnostic techniques to detect speech disorders. The absence of a unified classification system and diagnostics leads to the late correction of speech disorders. The article considers main reasons for disturbances in normal speech development, risk factors of speech pathology, clinical manifestations of some types of speech disorders, various approaches to diagnosis and systematization of speech disorders.Conflict of interest: The authors of this article confirmed the lack of conflict of interest and financial support, which should be reported.

scholarly journals Zingerone Ameliorates Hepatotoxicity

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 280-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julietpoornamathy J ◽  
Parameswari C.S.
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Medical Sciences ◽  
Toxic Compounds ◽  
Group 4 ◽  
Group 3 ◽  
Group 5 ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Group 1

In medical sciences, toxicity is an area wherein extensive studies have been carried to improve the diseases as well as to prevent. So, there is a high requirement for novel and improved alternative therapeutic strategies to manage diseases. The liver is the largest gland in the body, which executes several important mechanisms; it stores minerals and vitamins and releases them in periods of need. The main aim of this study was to give a closer insight into potent non- toxic compounds that is capable of modifying the responses. Animals were divided into five equal groups viz control (Group 1), administered with food and water ad libitum, (Group 2) administered with olive oil, (Group 3) administered with zingerone, (Group 4) administered with concanavalin A, (Group 5) administered with cyclosporine A followed by zingerone. Our results revealed significant changes in liver marker enzymes and liver histology of zingerone treated rats when compared to control rats.  A corollary, zingerone has no toxic effect on hepatocytes and was found to be safe at a dose of 10mg/kg b wt and also ameliorates hepatotoxicity.

scholarly journals Speech in the foreign accent syndrome: differential diagnosis between organic and functional cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-332
Author(s):  
Simone dos Santos Barreto ◽  
Karin Zazo Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Speech Intelligibility ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Foreign Accent ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Speech Impairments ◽  
Foreign Accent Syndrome ◽  
History Of ◽  
Transient Events ◽  
Classic Form

ABSTRACT. Foreign accent syndrome (FAS) is an extremely rare disorder, with 112 cases described until 2019. We compare two cases of the foreign accent syndrome in native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese in its classic form (FAS) and psychiatric variant (FALS). Two cases were analyzed: (1) a right-handed, 69-year-old man, with a prior history of stroke, and (2) a right-handed, 43-year-old woman, diagnosed with schizophrenia. They were evaluate for language and speech, including the speech intelligibility. Both patients had speech impairments complaints, similar to a new accent, without previous exposure to a foreign language. However, the onset of the speech disorder was sudden in case 1 and insidious and with transient events in case 2, with speech intelligibility scores of 95.5 and 55.3% respectively. Besides neurologic impairment, the clinical presentation of FALS was extremely severe and differed to that expected in FAS cases, in which speech intelligibility is preserved.

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