Who says men can never change?

There has been a trend toward increasing antidepressant (AD) use in recent decades. We used data from the National Population Health Survey (NPHS) to determine whether this trend is continuing and to provide updated estimates of the frequency of use. The NPHS is a longitudinal general health survey that began collecting data in 1994. The NPHS evaluates past-year major depressive episodes (MDEs) using a brief diagnostic instrument. At each biannual interview (from 1994 to 2006) current medication use is recorded. We estimated the frequency with which ADs were taken by respondents (aged 12 years and older) with and without past-year MDEs. These frequencies were cross-tabulated by sex, year of interview, and the reported duration of symptoms. ADs are taken by about 5.4% of the household population at any point in time. Most respondents taking ADs did not report past-year MDEs but 63.9% of respondents taking ADs in the absence of past-year episodes reported previous episodes or being diagnosed by a health professional with depression. This pattern is consistent with long-term treatment for relapse prevention. The overall frequency of use of ADs is increasing only in respondents without past-year episodes. AD use among community residents with past-year MDEs is no longer increasing. The continued increase in the overall frequency of use may point toward broadening indications for AD treatment and may indicate that people are taking these medications for longer periods of time.

Home Monitoring of Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Utility of the ForeseeHome Device for Detection of Neovascularization

P4. Abstract Title: Prevalence of Pulmonary Embolism in Patients Accessing the Emergency Department, Reported by Country of Study: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

It is generally believed that when a linguistic item acquires a new meaning, its overall frequency of use rises with time with an S-shaped growth curve. Yet, this claim has only been supported by a limited number of case studies. In this paper, we provide the first corpus-based large-scale confirmation of the S-curve in language change. Moreover, we uncover another generic pattern, a latency phase preceding the S-growth, during which the frequency remains close to constant. We propose a usage-based model which predicts both phases, the latency and the S-growth. The driving mechanism is a random walk in the space of frequency of use. The underlying deterministic dynamics highlights the role of a control parameter which tunes the system at the vicinity of a saddle-node bifurcation. In the neighbourhood of the critical point, the latency phase corresponds to the diffusion time over the critical region, and the S-growth to the fast convergence that follows. The durations of the two phases are computed as specific first-passage times, leading to distributions that fit well the ones extracted from our dataset. We argue that our results are not specific to the studied corpus, but apply to semantic change in general.

The question of how best to classify Modern Standard Chinese loanwords is rather a fraught one. Various principles of categorization have been proposed in the literature; however, previous classification systems have generally covered only a relatively small proportion of all loanwords currently in use. Even attempts to provide an exhaustive catalog of lexical borrowing strategies have often been characterized by non-transparent structure, internal inconsistency or even incompleteness. This has hindered meaningful cross-linguistic comparisons of language change in Modern Standard Chinese vis-à-vis other languages. The aim of this paper is to present a new and clearly structured, comprehensive inventory of the different types of lexical borrowing that have occurred in Modern Standard Chinese over the past 30 to 40 years. Systematic cross-linguistic comparisons reveal that examples of almost all of the categories of lexical borrowing noted in the literature on English language change can likewise be provided in relation to Modern Standard Chinese. In addition, Chinese offers several options for borrowing lexical items not available to speakers of English. Overall, this paper presents a picture of Modern Standard Chinese speakers as cultivating a flexible, creative, playful approach to their use of language. The explicit recognition of the fact that many so-called “alphabetic words” are established loanwords is found to have implications for the typological classification of Chinese script, as well as for other fields such as second language teaching. A secondary finding not anticipated in the research question is that Chinese orthography shows tentative early signs of potentially developing from a morpho-logographic to a phonetic writing system.

My social network: Group differences in frequency of use, active use, and interactive use on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Individual differences of learners will affect foreign language learners’ use of learning strategies. This study focuses on Chinese learners in Sri Lanka, and analyzes the correlation between their age, gender, length of time and oral language learning strategies. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the use of learning strategies among learners of different genders; with the increase of age, the frequency of overall use of strategies showed a downward trend; the frequency of use of cognitive strategies, compensation strategies and affective strategies increased with learning length while increasing, the frequency of use of meta-cognitive strategies, memory strategies and social strategies decreased with the increase of learning length.

Social media has become an integral component of university students’ daily lives, influencing communication practices, information access, and social interaction within higher education institutions. This study aims to explore social media usage habits among students of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), with particular attention to usage frequency, preferred platforms, and demographic differences. A quantitative research design was employed using a cross-sectional survey approach. Data were collected from 150 IIUM students through a structured self-administered questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, frequency and duration of social media use, and commonly used platforms. The findings indicate that social media usage is nearly universal among IIUM students, with the majority reporting daily use and substantial time spent on various platforms. Facebook emerged as the most frequently used platform, followed by Instagram, YouTube, and other social networking applications. Analysis of demographic variables revealed notable differences in social media usage patterns. Younger students tended to spend more time on entertainment-oriented platforms, whereas older students demonstrated more regulated usage and a preference for platforms associated with information seeking and communication. Similarly, students in earlier academic levels exhibited higher levels of social media engagement compared to senior students, suggesting that academic maturity may contribute to improved self-regulation of digital habits. Gender differences were observed primarily in usage patterns and platform diversity rather than overall frequency of use. Overall, the study highlights the pervasive nature of social media use within the IIUM student community and underscores the importance of demographic factors in shaping usage behaviors. By providing institution-specific empirical evidence, this research contributes to a clearer understanding of students’ digital engagement and offers valuable insights for educators, administrators, and policymakers in addressing students’ social media usage within higher education contexts.

Quantity fluctuations of illicitly used opioids and overdose risk

This study investigated English language writing planning strategies (WPSs) of Saudi Arabian third-year male university students and the effect of writing proficiency on the frequency of use of these strategies. The participants were 197 Saudi learners of English as a Foreign Language attending their third year of university in Saudi Arabia. The data used in this study were obtained using a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The collected data were computed and analysed via descriptive statistics, the t test, and one-way repeated measure ANOVA. The participants reported applying most of the strategies in the questionnaire at a level higher than the midpoint of the scale. They reported applying only a few of those strategies (i.e. less than three) but all strategies were reported to be used by at least one of the subjects. Concerning English writing proficiency, a significant difference between good and poor writers was found in the frequency of overall use of WPSs (z = -2.527, P = .011). The results showed that good writers claim to use WPSs more frequently than do poor writers.

To the Editor.— The recent article by Avorn et al 1 on increased antidepressant use in patients taking β-blockers appears to be a chicken-and-egg problem when viewed from a perspective that is different from that of the authors. Their conclusion—we consistently found a higher frequency of antidepressant use among patients prescribed β-blockers—should be examined as to the validity of the reverse case: the frequency of β-blockers use among patients prescribed tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). Since the overall frequency of use is greater for TCAs than for β-blockers in two age groups (20 to 44 and older than 65 years), can their use be attributed to β-blockers use? The finding that β-blocker use is greater than that of other antihypertensive drugs may simply confirm the results of the survey quoted by the authors, ie, that β-blockers are more frequently prescribed than other drugs. This may equally apply to hypertensives among a population

Societies continually evolve and speakers use new words to talk about innovative products and practices. While most lexical innovations soon fall into disuse, others spread successfully and become part of the lexicon. In this paper, I conduct a longitudinal study of the spread of 99 English neologisms on Twitter to study their degrees and pathways of diffusion. Previous work on lexical innovation has almost exclusively relied on usage frequency for investigating the spread of new words. To get a more differentiated picture of diffusion, I use frequency-based measures to study temporal aspects of diffusion and I use network analyses for a more detailed and accurate investigation of the sociolinguistic dynamics of diffusion. The results show that frequency measures manage to capture diffusion with varying success. Frequency counts can serve as an approximate indicator for overall degrees of diffusion, yet they miss important information about the temporal usage profiles of lexical innovations. The results indicate that neologisms with similar total frequency can exhibit significantly different degrees of diffusion. Analysing differences in their temporal dynamics of use with regard to their age, trends in usage intensity, and volatility contributes to a more accurate account of their diffusion. The results obtained from the social network analysis reveal substantial differences in the social pathways of diffusion. Social diffusion significantly correlates with the frequency and temporal usage profiles of neologisms. However, the network visualisations and metrics identify neologisms whose degrees of social diffusion are more limited than suggested by their overall frequency of use. These include, among others, highly volatile neologisms (e.g., poppygate) and political terms (e.g., alt-left), whose use almost exclusively goes back to single communities of closely-connected, like-minded individuals. I argue that the inclusion of temporal and social information is of particular importance for the study of lexical innovation since neologisms exhibit high degrees of temporal volatility and social indexicality. More generally, the present approach demonstrates the potential of social network analysis for sociolinguistic research on linguistic innovation, variation, and change.

This chapter is concerned with the nature of the relationship between language awareness and language change – in terms of interdependence and mutual influence. It aims to build on the possibility of raising the issue of influence from two perspectives: does change influence awareness, does awareness influence change? Variation being the fundamental 'mechanism' of change in all appearances of life on this planet – language being no exception – 'language change' often more appropriately spelled out as 'language variation and change'. The conceptual work by William Labov is by far the most elaborated and influential modelling of impact from language change on language awareness. Labov's theoretical claim is rather that effect from 'social factors' and from 'social awareness' are two different things. Incipient changes can be affected by social factors, gender being a particularly powerful one, without any involvement of social awareness.

Poly-drug use has increased in recent decades, especially in young drugusing groups. Classic epidemiological indicators of drug use, such as prevalence and incidence of users of specific substances, are not adequate as measures of the possible harms of poly-drug use. We applied poly-drug use indicators, based on substance-specific harm scores reported by van Amsterdam and Nutt in 2015, to data from high school student surveys, showing their usefulness in identifying high-risk drug consumption. Analysing the 'correlation' between high-risk drug use of high school students and school dropout allows the evaluation of adopted prevention policies and may suggest more suitable approaches. Each drug user is characterized by two specific scores: overall frequency of use of substances during the period of interest (FUS) and poly-drug use score (PDS). The poly-drug use score is a weighted average of the harm scores of the individual substances used multiplied by their respective frequencies of use. The PDS increases with the frequency of use, with the number of substances used, and with the specific harm scores of each substance. This indicator consists of two components, one representing the health harm score toward self and the other the social harm score toward others. The indicators have been applied to sample data involving youth population, specifically the ESPAD®Italia survey data on high school students conducted annually in Italy. The trends of poly-drug use at different ages of students, 15-19 years, over time, and gender have been studied. The results have been linked to educational outcomes, early school leaving and social aspects, making it possible to assess present prevention interventions and suggest appropriate planning of future prevention interventions. Poly-drug use indicators allow a comprehensive quantitative evaluation of the risks of drug use. The analysis of the links between heavy use of drugs, school performance and dropout, and the social variables that influence them, shown in this work, suggests how best to plan secondary or indicated prevention interventions at school. The problem of including "new" NPS in analyses is also briefly discussed.

This study examines a semi and a full English-medium instruction (EMI) undergraduate program offered at a Catalan university in order to measure its effect on the students’ oral output. Specifically, it tackles the acquisition of pragmatic markers (PMs) by measuring four variables, the overall frequency of use, the variety of types, the use of textual PMs, and the use of interpersonal PMs. Oral data were collected via a monologue and an interaction task. The study is cross-sectional with 39 full-EMI and 33 semi-EMI participants in 2nd and 3rd year of study plus 10 native speakers. PM use was chosen for analysis due to the important role they play in communicative competence. Results show a significant increase in the overall frequency and variety of types of PMs used from year 2 to year 3. The full-EMI group used PMs at a significantly higher frequency and wider variety when compared to the semi-EMI group, neither group reached baseline levels for use of interpersonal PMs, and both groups displayed a higher use of textual PMs compared to the NSs.